Beaker your experience sounds like a relatively normal one. As for all the deductions, what are you talking about, tzes, apartment bills like electric and water, what exactly?

I would say you did not read the contract carefully enough, or did not know what to look for. Chinese contracts are often intentionally vague and ambiguous, giving the employer a wide berth to screw you royally should the need arise. Funny how that need almost always seems to arise, isn't it?

Folks, make sure that you read your contracts before hand. Don't be pressured into signing a document you have not had at least a night to read and think over. Most schools pressure you into signing right when you get off the plane or train. Often if you don't sign right then and there they will threaten not to hire you. If that happens, simply tell them you need a night to look it over, and if they can't handle such a reasonable request, pick your bags up and walk out. If they are that pushy, and scared to give you time to read it thoroughly, than something is wrong. Most schools will give in of course and give you the time you need, but if they don't, your better off. Next step is to get a hotel room, spend 3 days online, and find another, better job, shouldn't be hard.

Bottom line, stand up for yourself, and for simple reason, from the first, they'll will be a heck of a lot less likely to take advanyage of you if you do. One, because they know you have a set of big brass balls between your legs from the start, and two, because you read the contract and amended anything that was vague or just total BS.

Make sure they change or remove anything ambiguous or unreasonable, and make the contract quite clear, so as to not leave you open to exploitation. Again, if they won't do this, leave. All your really asking for is to be treated fairly, and know what to expect in your future employment. That's not only fair, but quite reasonable. If they won't give on simple points that are clearly wrong headed and too biased in their favor, than walk.

That's part of how you find a good job here. A fair amount of it is up to you, and what you do or don't agree to in the beginning. You have to realize that the Chinese employer will try to get away with as much as possible, if you don't object, so much the better in their eyes. If you do, and your right, generally they will give in. Lot's of people working bad jobs out there could have had pretty decent ones had they just had the balls to stand up for themselves and demand to read and than change parts of the contract that were clearly not fair. I agree there are a lot of bad schools out there, but some of the time the teacher creates their own bad situation simply by not reading what isn't even fine print, or having the courage to demand better.